Article by Chris Nokes

Another tough opponent forces another tough result for Cardiff U-18's to suffer as they fall to a 6-0 defeat against West Ham United.

Five minutes into the game and Cardiff knew they were in for a long afternoon when Cardiff goalkeeper Josh Magennis felled the advancing West Ham striker in the area and a penalty was awarded. The penalty was calmly converted to give the Hammers an early lead.

Despite this early setback, Cardiff then started a period of domination with some excellent football being played. Chances were also being created, the best of which falling to Sam Wade and Rees Kelleher. However, they were limited to long range shots often falling harmlessly into the West Ham goalie's arms. When looking back on this stage of the game, Cardiff would have wanted to make their dominance count to give them a fighting chance in the more difficult times to come.

When West Ham started to regain control, Bluebirds 'keeper Josh Magennis was forced into a save low down to his left to stop West Ham from doubling their lead. This was followed, almost immediately, by West Ham striking the post and their intentions were well and truly clear. With a warning shot fired, West Ham did indeed get their second goal with five minutes of the first half left. It came from a corner on the left hand side, the ball was whipped in to be met by a frenzy of Cardiff defenders who only managed to clear it as far as a West Ham player who drilled it into the back of the net with Cardiff 'keeper Magennis unable to see through the mass of bodies.

Half Time: Cardiff 0-2 West Ham

West Ham started the second half as they started the first, with a quick goal. It came when the Hammers striker turned neatly in the box to give himself a one-on-one with the Bluebirds goalkeeper. He clinically placed the ball in the bottom right hand corner past Magennis' helpless dive to give West Ham the third of this game.

From then on it appeared the floodgates had open as ten minutes later West Ham had their fourth goal. An unlucky deflection was the cause as the ball trickled past Magennis and into the bottom right hand corner. The goals source was again from West Ham's attacking right hand side on which Cardiff looked vulnerable throughout the game.

The fifth goal came from an excellently delivered corner which was met in the area by a West Ham head and it powered straight through Magennis who really did not have much of a chance. With Cardiff already stretched while trying to get on the score sheet West Ham capitalized and with literally the last kick of the game got the sixth goal. Cardiff's vulnerable left hand side was exposed again and a strong run was followed by the ball being squared for an attacking West Ham player to tap it in the open net from close range.

Full Time: Cardiff 0-6 West Ham

Geraint Twose will be disappointed with the result and the amount of goals conceded, but on the positive side for the first half an hour, bar the penalty,
Cardiff more than matched a strong West Ham side and could have perhaps gotten a few goals to show for their efforts. The only thing for Twose now is to learn the lessons from this result and then focus on the next game on Saturday, away to Leicester.

Man of the Match: Josh Magennis
It may seem odd to give the Man of the Match award to a goalkeeper who has conceded 6 goals but without some of his fine saves, including two excellent stops in the second half, Cardiff could have conceded a fair few more.

Cardiff Coach Geraint Twose:
"The difference in performance of the two halves was unbelievable. The standards shown were not good enough and it was disappointing after a good week's training".